Heart to Heart
by thedancingcrown
Summary: Bruce and Dick have a conversation. "Do you think your mouth might do a better job of conveying your feelings, than your foot?" "Oh, 'feelings', we're sharing those today?" And other snippets of story. (meant to be a one-shot, but then...stuff happened)
1. Confessions

**I've been on a Young Justice hiiiiigh! :D**

**So I thought this up this morning, and it sounded a lot better in my head, I think, but maybe it's not ****_that_**** bad. Some back story so you don't get too confused: Aqualad is off somewhere - Atlantis probably. Robin and Bats had a spat and Robin ditched the mission at the last minute, went home, and then got locked up inside, because Batman didn't think he could perform well on the mission with his head all full of fluff. Batman takes over Robin's place on the mission, which was techy computer stuff in the Cave, and coordinating the Team, not actual out in the fieldness.**

**Also, this takes place somewhere between seasons, but before Nightwing.**

**Enjoy? ^^'**

**Please review! :)**

* * *

Bruce Wayne handed the cab driver his fair through the window between their seats, and a little tip just because, before he got out of the taxi with a sigh. It wasn't often he needed one. He could hardly remember the last time. But he had needed Alfred at home rather than driving the limo. In case Dick did something stupid. Surprisingly, that didn't happen often either. But, ever since he'd met that girl…

Trusting the front door to be open, Bruce didn't bother knocking, but reached for the handle instead. He'd half expected Alfred to open the door before he could do it himself, or short of that the loyal butler was probably waiting just on the other side. But it wasn't Alfred that met him when he entered the house – it was Dick's foot. Reflexively, Bruce recoiled backward, and the kid came swinging past his face, sliding across the top of an end table beside the door, sending vases scattering, before he fell off the other end and onto his face with a yelp.

Bruce raised an eyebrow, and shut the door behind him.

"Evening, Alfred," he nodded at the older man, who'd appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"Master Bruce."

Bruce made his way around the table to where Dick lay, groaning, on the floor. "Tell me, has a simple 'hello, welcome home' gone out of fashion for kids these days?"

"I'm not a kid anymore," Dick grumbled, pushing himself up to sit on his knees. He rubbed at his face.

"Are you sure? Because you're acting like one."

The boy scowled at him.

"Some tea, Master Bruce?" Alfred inquired into the momentary silence.

"In a minute, Alfred. Thanks."

"Very good, sir…"

Dick had gotten to his feet, and was still scowling.

"Do you think your mouth might do a better job of conveying your feelings, than your foot?"

"Oh, '_feelings_', we're sharing those today?" the boy clenched his fists. "I saw the news – you put my team in danger today!"

"They were _my_ team today."

"And then you had Alfred lock me inside so I couldn't go out there and help them!"

"I'm not sure if I should be disappointed that you didn't get out, after all…" Bruce said thoughtfully. Dick opened his mouth to snap something else at him, but he cut him off, "Also, they're not _your_ team – they're Aqualad's."

"They're my _friends_! All of them, and I care about them! They needed my help—"

"Not really. I had everything under control. They were fine."

"That's not what it looked like half the time! I was worried about them – you had no right to keep me from them!" Dick glared at him, but Bruce's expression hardly changed. Finally, the kid threw his hands in the air, "Argh! Why do I even bother with you? It's not like _you_ have any friends – only teammates! You don't care about anyone but yours—" he trailed off, Bruce's hand catching him firmly by the shoulder as he tried to storm past.

"I care about you, Dick. You're family."

The boy swallowed hard, glanced up at Bruce for a second, and then scowled some more at the floor.

"And I care about your team the same way I care about mine. But, this isn't really about any of that, is it? It's because I won't let you date that girl."

"'That girl' has a name!" Dick cut in, looking up at Bruce. Spots of colour had appeared on the boy's cheeks. He didn't seem to notice.

"Or maybe," Bruce ignored him, "It's because you went ahead and dated her behind my back anyway, and then I found out."

"It was _one kiss_!" Dick snapped, pushing at Bruce's arm to get the man's hand off his shoulder. He could feel the heat rise up his neck, all the way to the tips of his ears. Bruce let him go, and Dick crossed his arms tightly across his chest, feeling stupid. "It-was-just-one-kiss," he mumbled, hiding his face by looking at his socks. "I-wasn't-dating-her-behind-your-back."

"A lot of lipstick for 'one kiss'…"

Dick flinched as though he'd been struck – had Bruce really just said that, or was the Boy Wonder hearing things? He looked up sideways at the older man, whose gaze was off somewhere else, as he stood suddenly in thought. But, was that a…was he trying to hide a smile?

"Come here," Bruce said, and led the way toward their sitting area. Reluctant, but curious, and annoyed all at the same time, Dick sulked along in the man's wake. Bruce left Dick standing, and sat down on the arm of a sofa, hands in his lap. "Tell me what happened."

"What for?" Dick snapped at once, though he wasn't sure he'd actually meant to. "So you can just make fun of me some more? No thanks!"

"Dick," Bruce stopped him as he was about to march off, putting a hand on his shoulder in such an almost sincere gesture, Dick had to stop moving altogether for a second. "Tell me what happened."

Dick stared at his…mentor? Friend? …Father? Every once in a while Bruce had such a _moment_, and Dick couldn't think of him as anything less than a…

He swallowed, sighed, and let his arms drop at his sides, feeling all the resistance drain out of him. Bruce let him go, and sat patiently waiting for him to start. Keeping his eyes on the floor, Dick spoke quietly, "We were in the kitchen…grating carrots for M'gann's stupid salad…" like everything was the salad's fault, Bruce thought. "Everyone else was…off," he shrugged. "She'd just broken up with me – with _Dick Grayson_," he gestured the air, like Dick Grayson was standing next to him, "without a real explanation, and here was the perfect opportunity to fish out why," he shrugged, looking almost innocent. "Because she and Robin are friends, you know," he gestured himself as he spoke, "She'd tell him stuff." Bruce kept his face straight, nodded along with understanding. "So I brought it up…and then I asked… And at first she didn't want to say, but I…kind of nagged at her, I guess…" he rubbed the back of his neck, eyes on the floor. "And _then_…" he stretched the word, trailed off, feeling the heat rise beneath his skin again. This was embarrassing.

"She kissed you," Bruce offered, and Dick looked up at him – the man was _trying not to smile._

"It wasn't funny!" Dick snapped.

Bruce chuckled, raising his hands in defence, "I'm not laughing!" he said, even as he did. "Alright, alright," he cleared his throat, said seriously, his face almost mockingly straight again, "Go on."

Dick groaned, and let his gaze drop to the floor again – it was a much better view than Bruce's face. "So…we just stood there for a while…" _Kissing_, he added in his head. "And then, I guess she kind of realized what she was doing, and then…she flew off," he waved one hand through the air, looked up at nothing in particular. "So I went after her, and that's when we ran into you," he finished off anticlimactically, waving his hand through the air again as he took to pacing a few steps away, still in thought.

"Man!" he exclaimed then, turning back around. He ran his hands over his face, dejected. "I even yelled at Wally for no reason," Bruce raised an eyebrow, and Dick waved a hand. "Later in the bathroom, when I was washing off her…" he stopped short with the gesture to his mouth, at the sight of Bruce's expression. He dropped his hand, glared at the older man. Bruce grinned shamelessly at him.

Dick crossed his arms and turned his back on Bruce with a sigh. Why'd he ever open his big mouth in the first place? He was never hearing the end of any of this.

"I don't think Wally will be particularly perturbed by it…" Bruce said quietly, but with clear amusement in his tone – which Dick elected to ignore.

"Yeah, he'll be turbed," Dick said. "But I feel jerky about it…" he sighed again.

A moment later, Bruce's hand came to rest on Dick's shoulder a third time. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "That she likes Robin so much. And that she dumped Dick Grayson for him…" he added in a loud whisper. "But you understand why I don't want you dating a member of your team." It wasn't even a question. It didn't need to be though – Robin knew exactly why.

He sighed, and said as much. "Yeah. Secret identities, divided loyalties, potential betrayals – I get it. Plus, you don't trust her. I can't tell anyone who I really am, either, for all the same reasons."

"And a few extras," Bruce added. "…I am sorry."

Dick nodded, but said nothing, and in the silence that followed, Alfred appeared.

"Your tea, Master Bruce."

"Thank you, Alfred," Bruce said, with a smile – Alfred always knew when to appear. "But I think we'll take it downstairs. Dick needs to let off some steam in the training room," he squeezed the boy's shoulder gently, saw Dick smile at him from the corner of his eye.

"Very good, sir," Alfred was smiling beneath that moustache, too, Bruce would bet.

"Hey," Dick said. "I'm sorry I tried to plant my foot in your face."

"That's okay," Bruce replied easily. "It was about the most exciting thing to happen to Bruce Wayne today."

Dick laughed, "You poor old man."

"I'm not old yet, kid," Bruce retorted. "Your foot missed, remember?"

Dick only rolled his eyes.

"You know your team was never in any real danger today. I planned on how to get each of them out of their own dangerous situation before I sent them in."

"Yeah," Dick nodded, half embarrassed. Not at _not_ having trusted the Bat, because he had, of course – but more at having snapped at Bruce for no reason. "I know."

"What's for dinner, Alfred?" Bruce asked, starting off toward the hallway. Dick and Alfred, who was carrying their tray of tea, followed behind.

"Oh, all of your favourites, sir."

"More exciting news."

"Master Bruce needs a girlfriend, don't you think, Alfred?"

"I've been telling him that for years, Master Dick. Perhaps together we'll have better luck with convincing him."

"Don't start giving the kid ideas, Alfred," Bruce replied, catching Dick behind his neck with one large hand and scowling at him. Dick only grinned.

"So what did you tell the team – about my sudden absence?" Dick asked, as they passed through the opening to the Bat Cave, hidden behind a very old, but dustless grandfather clock, and descended the stairs beyond.

"I told them you came down with something," Bruce replied.

"Oh, yeah, what?"

"A wave of idiocy."

"You did _not_ say that."

"No?"

"You didn't!"

"Ask them."

"I don't believe you."

Bruce only laughed. "Ask them tomorrow."

Behind them, Alfred smiled.


	2. Chasing

**Thanks a lot for the favourites! :) R. Grayson (...lol. XP), RandomGirl287 (and for following! though I wasn't ever planning on expanding this, really...) and thievingfirestarter. :D**

**Thanks also to our Guest reviewer! :) You asked me to write more, and I had this in my head, so... XD**

**Little backstory: this is based on the previous... "chapter", I guess. After Dick and his ex-girlfriend kiss...er, make out XP...in the kitchen, she flies off, he follows, the following happens. I really only wanted to write Wally in this, so there's some Wally for your entertainment, as well. XP**

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She was a fast flyer, Dick had to admit. But he wasn't a slow runner himself – he could catch up to her. Probably. Maybe. …Eventually.

"Argh," he scowled, and ran a little faster. This was too insane. The world had seemed a little brighter not five minutes ago, when he was standing in the kitchen… They'd been in sort of a real relationship for weeks, and he was trying really hard to make up to her all the times he had to ditch out on a date – the way a real boyfriend would do, even though in truth she was ditching him too, she just didn't know he knew. Maybe, with all the cancelations and whatnot, it was why they'd never had a real _moment_ together, where…stuff could happen. Not until the kitchen, anyway.

Dick almost smiled, but someone cut into his thought just then, Wally calling from down a hallway he'd just passed, "Hey, Robin! Where you off to so fast?"

Dick stopped in his tracks, mentally having a 'Hello, Megan' moment. He stared down the corridor for a second, and then decided he just _had_ to. "Hello, _Dick_!" he hissed at himself, hoping no one had heard, and whacked his palm against his forehead. "You're _Robin_, you idiot."

She'd kissed _Robin_, not Dick. What the heck did that mean? Had she broken up with him because she actually liked…well, _him_? He'd been so lost in the moment earlier, just because it was _her_ and _him_, that he'd forgotten she had no idea who _he_ really was.

"I've warned you about frowning like that before, dude. Your face will stick and then you'll permanently need a mask."

Dick – _Robin_ – started at Wally's voice unexpected beside his ear, but, regaining his composure, honoured the speedster with a scowl and a quick, "Don't do that," before he started off again at a run.

"Wait, where are you going in such a hurry?" Wally called after him.

"Nowhere – don't follow me," Robin called back, but then came to a halt again, something else having come to mind. He turned around, "Actually, have you seen—" and started again at finding Wally right in front of him, a wide grin on his friend's freckled face.

"Seen?" Wally prompted.

Dick groaned, "Raquelle."

Wally frowned, "Which one?"

"The blonde one," Dick snapped impatiently – who else would it be? She was the only one around. "Did she come by here?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure, she went that way," Wally said, gesturing another adjacent hallway.

"Zeta-tubes…" Dick mumbled, realization dawning – of course _that_ was where she was going. She was running away.

"You want me to catch you up to her?" Wally asked, sounding mischievous. He even winked.

"Sure…" Dick replied, albeit a bit hesitantly, but he had to confess he wasn't _that_ fast, and he'd already wasted so much time. He had to catch up to her before she left. "But only far enough I can catch up to her the rest of the way myself. And then you need to disappear," he added sternly.

"You got it," Wally said, giving him a mock salute. "Climb on my back? And try not to fall off…" Robin could've sworn he'd added 'this time' to the end of that. "And also," Wally spoke, even as he took off, Robin's arms around his neck, the younger boy's hair blown back by the speed of Wally's pace. "You should work out more, dude. You're like a twig – still. Girls don't dig that."

"Shut up," Robin snapped right in Wally's ear, making the other boy flinch. And then they came to a very sudden stop, Wally letting him go at the same Robin lost his grip around the speedster's neck. He fell back, landing hard on his ass. He groaned, annoyed, and shot Wally a look.

His friend shrugged, and grinned, "There she is, dude. You go get her."

Dick looked around at the cave's zeta-tube chamber, quickly getting to his feet as he did so. She was flying over their training area just then.

Wally had disappeared not a split-second after he'd spoken, but he was back as fast again to say, "You got a little something on your lip there, by the way," he gestured his own mouth with a forefinger, and sped off again with an echoing snicker.

Dick wiped at his mouth, looked at his fingers, but saw nothing. Ignoring it, he took off at a run again. She must have heard them speaking because she glanced back over her shoulder even as she flew, looking surprised to see him behind her. She scowled, and, focussed on him, and likely the desire to get out of there as fast as possible, the way he was likewise focussed on her and the desire to stop her from leaving, that neither of them heard the announcement of their mission commander.

Another second later, with barely enough warning for her to stop, Batman appeared between Raquelle and the zeta-tubes.

"Ah!" she leaned back so as not to hit him, lost her grip on flying, and fell backwards – right into Robin's hands.

"You alright?"

"Let go!" she said breathlessly, finding her feet and shrugging his hands off her arms all at once.

"Okay…" he said, hands raised defensively.

She watched him sideways, crossed her arms, and then stole a glance at Batman, who was still standing there stoically. Robin had almost forgotten him, too. Tentatively, he looked up at his mentor, who despite the mask hiding his face, was almost certainly raising an eyebrow at them.

"Err…" Dick hadn't planned on having to explain their little chase to anyone – it was a miracle Wally hadn't asked any questions. Mentally, he paused – _Wally hadn't asked any questions?_ That set off several alarm bells, but Robin couldn't deal with those right now. "We were just…" he started, but trailed off a bit, trying to hold Batman's gaze and glance at Raquelle for a hint at the same time. Usually he was a much better liar than this.

"Playing tag," she cut in quickly, the nervous hitch in her tone probably not escaping Batman's ears either, but maybe he could smooth that over as Batman just being his intimidating self. If he could make tag sound legitimate enough.

"Yeah," he said, as casually and smoothly as he could. "Tag. It's good for… testing our speed and whatnot," he grinned at the Bat. And, just to drive home the point, gave Raquelle a light punch against her arm, "You're it, by the way."

"Thanks," she practically growled at him, scowling.

"Mission briefing in five. Raquelle, fetch the others for me."

She hopped off the ground and flew off almost as fast as Wally could run on a slow day. Well, Batman would do that to you.

Robin stared after her without having meant to, and, perhaps a little in thought, could have sworn he must have misheard what Batman said then.

"You usually play tag with your mouth, Robin?"

"_What_?" he snapped from his thoughts, looked round at Batman in alarm, aware he was either blushing furiously or had gone terribly pale.

Batman had turned to a keyboard, was typing in something. He said, "You might want to look in a mirror before the briefing."

Robin didn't move though, still running words through his head and feeling foolish for how little sense they made in his mind just then.

"Go on," Batman said, the older man watching Robin over his shoulder.

Dick nodded, thinking it odd how…almost _resigned_ Batman had sounded. Kind of like Bruce after a _really_ long day at the office. Sometimes he mumbled keeping an enterprise afloat was harder work than saving the planet from Vandal Savage. That was saying a lot.

Still pondering the sheer oddity of his entire morning – so far – Robin sauntered off to go find a mirror.

* * *

Lipstick.

It was _lipstick_ all over – and around – his mouth. _How_ had that happened?

_Hello, Dick!_ He knew how that happened.

He scowled at his reflection, shook his head at himself. He hadn't even noticed she'd been wearing any – he'd been too…darn distracted, apparently. _One of the world's greatest detectives, Robin. Yeah right._

It was a light pink, almost fleshy colour, but not fleshy enough.

He wet the cloth in his hand with warm water, a second time, and rubbed more furiously at his face. His skin was red by the time he was done, but at least the lipstick was off.

And then came a flush from behind, and Robin froze, realizing he wasn't alone.

A cubicle behind him opened, admitting Wally exit. The speedster stretched his arms wide, noticed Robin, and grinned. "So, how'd it go?" he asked, wily.

Robin scowled. "Nothing went anywhere," he snapped, throwing down the cloth in the sink. And then, because he realized how _that_ had sounded, he added quickly, "Because there wasn't anything to go anywhere with anyway! Just – there wasn't anything. Ever! _Man_, why do have to be so _nosy_?" the kid threw his hands up as though defeated, scowled some more at Wally, and then marched out of the bathroom, practically slamming the door shut behind him.

Wally stood, not particularly perturbed by the outburst, but a might confused, "I should've stayed and spied…" he decided at last, sighing.

* * *

**FYI: Raquelle isn't Rocket. That's the other one XP I've been playing with the idea of an OC (for Robin...) and a YJ OC story for a while, and this is just some of the fl/stuff that's gotten stuck in my head. So that's who that is. Anymoo...have a nice day! Thanks for reading.**


	3. Sharing

**This is me updating this, sort of, story, because I'm trying this new thing where I actual write down ideas when they pop into my head, so I ****_don't_**** forget them later. XP**

**And also, someone actually likes this! :D who knew.**

**5-STAR, thanks for the reviews on both the previous "chapters"! :) I'm glad you liked it.**

**3 Nightwing 3 I would ****_love_**** to hear any and all ideas you might have, because I have very little. :D Send me a PM? :)**

**This next part kind of explains itself, I think, so no real need for a "backstory".**

* * *

Sometimes, when Robin had to stay behind in Gotham for the day, meaning lots of bad guy research in the Bat cave and night-time patrolling with the Dark Knight, the Boy Wonder would take lunch downtown when he was in need of a breather. This also usually meant lunch had nothing to do with actual lunchtime. There was a diner on Sixth he infrequently frequented, and on some occasions, Wally and the Team would join him.

This happened to be one of those times.

Six superheroes sat casually, and unnoticeably, nestled into a corner booth next to the diner's side door, munching on a shared plate of French fries.

Since Robin had to wear his disguise – a pair of dark sunglasses – around the Team, they had taken to doing the same thing, less someone recognize Dick as _Robin_ in the company of civilian friends. It could get awkward.

As a result, Wally and Artemis had taken to wearing sunglasses as well, M'gann had changed her hair into an attractive dark blonde colour Dick rather liked, and Kaldur wore a big, brown, afro-style wig – Wally's idea. The Atlantian was still scowling sidelong at the redheaded youth between fries, but mostly it was alright. Superboy – Connor – had taken a page right out of his "big brother's" book and had perched a pair of square spectacles on his nose. It made Robin smile.

Being out of the Bat cave with his friends made Robin smile. It beat sitting around doing nothing as he waited on evidence analysis that could very well take all day. Alfred would let him know if the computer suddenly needed his attention – if his own tech on his wrist didn't first. But it had been well over an hour since he'd left the cave and nothing yet. Besides, he'd had a rough week – they all had – and a break could only be good for the soul…or, so he'd heard, anyway.

"Something to drink would be nice," M'gann said, on the question of anything more to order, once they'd gotten halfway through the fries. Robin had gone ahead and ordered it before they'd arrived, intending for them to order their own drinks when they got there, but the team had gotten to talking, and it slipped everyone's mind as they dug into the fries – which, as Wally kept repeating, were good.

"And more of these," he added then, right on top of what M'gann was saying, gesturing the fries with one in his hand, and then popping it into his already stuffed pie-hole. Dick shook his head, half smiling. "Cause, they're really—"

"_Good_," everyone else cut in, and Connor added, "We heard you the first time."

Wally swallowed, "I'm just glad you all agree."

Beside him, Artemis shook his head, rolled her eyes. Wally didn't notice, grabbing for another fry.

"So, what do you all want? I'll go order," Dick offered.

"What do they have?" Kaldur asked, scratching the back of his neck, under the wig. "Perhaps some menus might help."

"They have pretty usual stuff," Dick shrugged. "But, if it's menus you want…" he made to get up, one leg already out from under the table, only to stop when he looked up and saw her standing next to the booth. She'd clearly been passing by, coming to a halt just as he'd stopped from getting to his feet also. He recognized her at once, but then, she recognized him too.

"Wonder dude!" she half exclaimed, grinning, and at once the entire Team had their eyes on her.

Mentally, Robin groaned.

"_Boy Wonder_," he corrected in an undertone, rolling his eyes. He hadn't ever expected to see her again, but at least he hadn't forgotten her name. He was a famous superhero, though, and she still couldn't get it right, after he'd said it at least twice the other day? _Wonder_ful.

"Oh! Right, _that's_ what it is. I knew it wasn't the other thing," she said, talking fast, and waving one hand through the air, spots of bright pink blossoming on her cheeks. "Sorry."

"Never mind," he said quickly, dismissing it with a hand wave of his own. "What are you doing here?"

"Shake," she replied easily, raising the foam cup in her hands, which Robin had actually failed to notice, and taking a deep sip through the straw – chocolate. He'd kind of pegged her as a strawberry girl, but…anyway—

"Oh. Well, there it is. Nice seeing you and all," he said in a rush, nodding at her and turning back around in his seat and crossing his arms. He kept his eye on her though, knowing she wouldn't notice through the shades.

The straw popped out of her mouth, and for a moment she looked almost pouty, but then she nodded and smiled sort of thin-lipped, glancing over everyone in the booth, "Yeah, you too," she said, sort of waving with her free hand at her waist.

"_Dude_," Wally hissed, too loud, from beside Robin, punching him in the side just hard enough he'd feel it, but not so hard he'd flinch from it. Dick grit his teeth, annoyed.

"Don't rush off," Wally was still speaking even as he gave Dick a piece of his mind, smiling kindly at the _stranger_. Apparently Wally wasn't fazed by the fact. "Why don't you sit with us?"

The rest of the Team were watching Wally with critical, raised-eyebrow expressions, and Robin could tell Kaldur was trying to figure out a way of reprimanding the speedster without offending the girl or making too much of a scene. But then, even as Wally was still speaking, Dick felt the gentle touch of connection in the back of his mind – M'gann had linked them up.

_"You know this girl?"_ Connor asked the thing they'd probably all been wondering, and Dick answered at once with a firm, resounding _"No."_

"_Sounds like you do,"_ Wally retorted.

Dick ignored him, and said aloud, before the girl could get in a word, "She probably has things to do," and he looked at Wally beside him pointedly, putting as much disapproval into his visible features as he could.

_"Dude. I got it – enough with the death glare."_

"Actually," she started, and Dick felt his heart sinking to the bottom of his feet.

_"Why do you have to be such a—"_

_"Wally."_

"I totally do…"

_"What? I was gonna say 'jerk'."_

Dick rolled his eyes.

"Sorry…"

Dick and Wally both looked over at the girl, Wally wearing a dumb expression on his face.

_"She said she can't stay,"_ M'gann offered, realising the boys had missed the girl's words.

"Oh," they echoed aloud.

She smiled half-heartedly, glanced at Dick for a second, looking almost uncertain, before she thrust out her free hand right past him, toward Wally. "Kid Flash, right?" she asked, almost whispering it.

Wally's face split into a grin, "Yeah," he said excitedly, taking her hand and shaking it vigorously.

_"Wally!"_

That was almost everyone.

_"At least our real identities are disguised…" _Robin mumbled, and the rest of the Team gave a collective sigh, resigned to this fate.

"And this is Artemis," Wally was introducing, gesturing the blonde beside him, and then across from Robin to the opposite seat, "Aqualad," the Atlantian smiled politely, extending a hand, which she shook once. "Miss Martian," Wally continued. "And our very own—"

"Superboy!" the girl said with a grin, almost looking like she was going to start bouncing up and down.

Connor, who'd been leaning back in his seat beside M'gann, arms crossed, looked up in surprise.

"You helped save a school bus I was on a couple years ago," she explained with a shrug. "Was awesome. Thanks."

Connor smiled, gave a curt nod.

"Superheroes hanging out in a diner?" she said, amused.

Wally grinned, stuffed another fry in his mouth, "Dude's got to eat."

She laughed a little at that, and then turned to Dick, "While I've got you here," she said, and Dick, swallowing his annoyance, looked up at her, too. She poked his arm with her forefinger, "Thank you, too. For the other day."

"You've already said thanks," he said dismissively. "And I already said it's just my job."

_"Rescued damsel in distress? Dude, why're you being so cold? That's not like you, you attention-monger."_

She gave a little laugh, and Robin almost missed half of Wally's scold listening to the sound.

"Sure it is," she said. "And how often do you get thanked for it?" She shook her head, waved her hand like it didn't matter, but didn't stop smiling. "Anyway, see you later tall, dark and shaded," she waved at the rest of the Team, started for the door on the other side of the diner. Robin looked up to watch her go. Not two steps from their booth she looked over her shoulder to wave at him, "Smile a little," she called back. "It's good for the soul."

He scowled at the table.

There was silence. Around the booth, in his head – M'gann had cut off their connection and he'd barely noticed.

"Dude," Wally finally snapped, glaring daggers at him. "What was that all about? I mean, could you have been any ruder?"

"If I tried," he retorted, annoyed, but sighed then, and spoke quickly before Wally could get in a decent lecture. "The last thing I need is to encourage some fan girl," he said. "Bats would have my head."

"She seemed rather nice, if you ask me," Artemis commented matter-of-factly, biting off half a fry.

M'gann nodded quietly, too.

"Robin does have a point," Kaldur said, though he did sound a might reluctant admitting it. "We cannot have any civilian relations. It would only put them, and our secret identities, at risk."

"But, _dude_, she was hot—ack!" Wally choked on the last word. "What the—" he rubbed the back of his head, scowled at Artemis. She raised an innocent eyebrow at him, but M'gann opposite her was hiding a smile behind her hand. "I-only-_meant_," Wally started at her through his grit teeth, but then turned back to Dick, "Dude could do with a girlfriend."

"_What?_" Dick flinched. "Don't be stupid, Wa—K.F. I do not."

"Well, maybe not _you_, Robin. But the other guy."

"Who says the other guy doesn't have one?"

"I can sense these things."

"You're an idiot," Dick replied, waving a hand at his friend, before he stood up from the seat.

"Hey – where're you going?"

"Menus," he said over his shoulder, making his way toward the counter. "Kaldur wanted menus."

"Oh…right…"

Dick sighed, and slowed his pace, passing a few smaller booths, a table or two, as he made his way to the counter, thinking.

He'd been rude. He'd definitely been rude. He knew that. Only, he couldn't help it. He was annoyed that she'd recognized him, because he was with his friends. None of them had known he'd swept her off her feet and out of the way of a falling building on their mission earlier in the week. She'd been like his secret. He'd taken her home after the mission was over, making up some story to cover with the Team that he couldn't even remember any more, and they'd talked nonstop all the way.

She'd smiled at him. Her smile had made him smile.

It was nice, but it was pointless, and he'd gone back home perfectly aware and content with it. And then she popped up out of nowhere, and now everyone knew about her and Wally was making a big deal. No more secret.

He sighed, smiling politely at the girl behind the counter, who was blushing bright red and gave him a nod as he reached for their menus, thinking at least he still had her name all to himself.

_Raquelle._

Almost smiling, almost entertaining the thought of looking her up later to apologize for his inexplicably rude behaviour, he strolled back to his seat, handing out menus as he sat down.

He was staring at the list of drinks without taking them in, when Wally suddenly set his own menu down and turned to him, "So, Rob…you ever catch her name?"

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**Thanks so much for reading! :)**


	4. Heights

**3 Nightwing 3, I'm not fond of the idea of leaving suggestions in the reviews, because I don't know how to delete them, or if that's even possible...do you have email? You could email me, maybe? :) (check out my profile) Also, to help clear up the confusion, ch 3 happens long before the first two...like, after Robin had just met her.**

**And now, we rewind some more, with chapter 4...**

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Thinking fast, catching sight of the best spot his line would take to, Robin aimed his grapple gun, fired, and then he jumped.

The line snapped taut and Robin swung through the air, dark cape billowing behind him, lower and lower until he was gliding just above the ground in front of the quickly crumbling building. The lowest floors were collapsing in on themselves, but the higher ones were buckling, falling forward – heading right for him.

However, the Boy Wonder hadn't swung into the falling building's way to put himself in danger.

Among the crowd of people that had run, screaming, terrified, from the building once it got hit, one had been pushed aside, lost her footing, and was only just now picking herself off the ground.

Someone had to save her, Robin had figured, a little smirk on his face – the rest of the Team could handle Clayface and the others for a while without him.

Swinging past the front of the building, Robin held out one arm and caught the girl, who wasn't much bigger than himself, around the waist, and swept her off the ground in one fluid motion.

"Hold on!" he said to her.

"Dude!" she yelped, her right arm tightening round the back of his neck, "How 'bout a warning next time?"

"Hey, I just saved your life," Robin said, a little indignant, as he shifted his weight, aiming for a balcony railing ahead to land on.

"I'm not ungrateful," the girl said, suddenly clinging to him with her other arm as well, "Just scared of heights!"

Robin pushed a button on his grapple gun, snapping the line from his gadget as he landed perfectly on the balcony's railing, his companion a little less sturdily finding her feet beside him, but finding them nonetheless. Behind them, his line disappeared beneath the falling rubble.

"Oh," Robin said, smiling down at the girl. She looked up at him with her brown eyes, but didn't move her head – or the rest of her, either; she was stiffly clinging to him, clearly afraid she might fall if she let go. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't know."

"How could you?" she mumbled into his shoulder, where she'd hidden her face when they swung through the air.

Robin only smiled, and turned a little to look over his shoulder. The building he'd saved her from was in ruins, and great big clouds of dust that had risen from the disaster still hung in the air. He sighed, content – at least no one else had been in there.

_"Robin – move!"_ M'gann's voice echoed in his mind even as Robin saw the large, solid rock projectiles shooting through the sky toward him.

"Sorry," he said, quickly aiming his grapple gun at a nearby building, "You're going to have to be scared a little longer." Robin fired, a new line instantly shooting off toward its target. Robin hopped off the railing, holding onto the girl with his free arm. She clung to him tighter, if that were possible, and, Robin could've sworn, mumbled something that sounded a lot like, "I remember why I stopped doing this…" against his shoulder.

Shifting his weight as they swung, Robin rounded the building he'd attached his line to, landing them on the roof of a smaller building next to it.

_"Dude? Rob?"_ Wally's voice.

_"I'm fine. I'll be there in a sec."_

"You can let go," Robin chuckled, putting his grapple gun away, the line having retracted with the push of another button.

"Oh," said the girl, a little breathlessly, and then, slowly, she released her death grip on him and took a step back. She heaved a sigh of relief and offered him a strained smile, "Great job, fly boy," she said. "Let's never do that again."

Robin blinked, "Boy Wonder," he corrected.

"What?"

"My _name_," Robin replied. "It's 'the Boy Wonder', not 'fly boy'."

"Oh," she said, but frowned then, "So what's the 'R' stand for?" she asked, and poked at the symbol on his chest, flinching back when his suit suddenly went into stealth mode. "Dude!" she exclaimed. "What was that?"

"Stealth mode," he said dryly, pressing the symbol again. His suit went back to normal.

"The black's not a bad look," she commented with a shrug and Robin tried not to roll his eyes.

"That wouldn't make any sense," he retorted. "I'm _Robin_. Robin, the Boy Wonder."

Her eyes widened a little as if in recognition, and she nodded, "Robin. I get it – robins have red chests," she smiled. "It does make more sense."

"Great. I'm glad you get it," Robin said stiffly. "Now, if you're alright, I need to—"

"Oh!" she cut in. "Robin! As in, Batman's side-kick! That makes _much_ more sense."

"Of course she'd know Batman…" Robin mumbled, feeling deflated.

She didn't seem to hear, "I thought Robin was a short, thin little kid though," she gestured with one hand a height at least three heads shorter than Robin. "But you're…_tall_. And…buff and muscly," she gave his chest a light punch, hitting stealth mode again. "Oops," she pressed the _R_ on his chest with three fingers before Robin could, and grinned sheepishly up at him, "Sorry…" she rubbed the back of her neck, her cheeks going pink – something Robin only noticed because his mask gave him a lighter view of his surroundings in the night-time. He half smiled.

"First time meeting a superhero," she was still speaking, waving one hand through the air. "First time being saved by one…Oh, well no – there was a bus, in Metropolis once. But that was really 'save the bus', more than 'save the girl who just happens to be on the bus', so this is a first – I'm sorry, I'm a little overwhelmed—"

"Don't be," he cut her off, putting one hand on her shoulder. "Just stay whelmed."

For a second she just stared at him, and then kind of snorted, "Damn, dude. You make that face at all the distressed damsels you save?"

"Err—" he blushed, taken aback, and slipped his hand off her shoulder. But, she smiled kindly at him then, and Robin smiled back. "As I was saying – superhero and all – I kind of have a big bad guy to beat up, so—" he stepped back, intending to step onto the low wall surrounding the roof so he could swing from there and get back to the action, but the girl caught hold of his wrist for a second to stop him.

"Wait! You can't just leave me up here. I need to go home."

"Stairs are back there," he gestured. "Just follow them down. Catch a cab home," he shrugged.

"Oh, wouldn't you know it," she said, a might sarcastically, as she dug into her jean's pockets, and pulled them inside out for him to see, "No money."

Robin paused, taking a second to look her over. All he'd really taken in with his first glance was her straight, light blonde hair, hanging down past her shoulders. But, looking over her outfit now, Robin could see her jeans were frayed, her boots dirty, and her jacket at least one size too big. She was a thin girl and it was baggy on her, the sleeves probably longer than her arms, explaining why she'd rolled them up despite the chill in the air.

"Where do you live?" Robin asked, thinking she was probably…homeless? An orphan? _Some_thing, anyway.

"Err…" she paused. "You know, it's… in town, not _very_ far from here. Though I don't actually know how to get there from here…"

_"Robin? Where have you gone?"_

_"Yeah, dude – what happened to 'a sec'?"_

_"In a minute, guys!"_ he snapped back in his head, a little louder than he'd meant. He could practically _feel_ Wally's mind flinch in reply. _"I just _need_ to take care of something."_

"Are you listening?"

"Sorry," Robin said. "Here, I'll tell you what…" he dug into a pocket on his utility belt, retrieving a single earpiece. "Put this in your ear, it's linked to mine," he handed it to her, and she obeyed. "Press on it once to activate it, and then I'll hear what you're saying. And one more time to deactivate it," she nodded as he spoke, testing it out with a mumbled "Robin" that echoed in his ear. He gave her a nod. "When you hear the fighting's died down, remind me with that, and I'll come get you. Until then, just stay here?"

She nodded, "Okay."

Robin hopped onto the low wall, aimed with his grapple gun and fired his line.

"By the way," she said from behind. "Thanks – for saving me."

"Just doing my job," he grinned at her over his shoulder, making her smile. Robin dived off the building, and into a swing, heading back to where he could still faintly hear some of the fighting going on. She wasn't far from the commotion, but at least she was safe. Clayface and the others had been heading in the opposite direction.

Getting back to his teammates, Robin made a _quiet_ mental note, to ask the girl her name when he went back for her later.

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**Thanks a lot for reading! I appreciate all the reviews, too! :3**


	5. Fainted

**I keep forgetting to say this, but, I don't own Young Justice. Who knew? *shrug***

**Welcome new followers! Thank you for reading! :D ****_Dead Hero & Akari Tatsumi for faving also, Lil'LordBrat and Handmaiden of the Awesomeness _****(triple thanks for faving too, and following ****_Fearless_****! I'll have that updated by like, Thursday, maybe... I need to pick Kaldur's brain before I do... XP)**

**I'm surprised that I already have five "chapters" for this! Wow.**

* * *

Bruce had redirected the call to his cell phone and had gone to answer it inside the house. Plainly it was League business he didn't want Dick to overhear. The Boy Wonder might have slipped out of the cave and gone to eavesdrop were it not for the charge he was left with.

She lay on their examination table, on a white blanket, a fluffy pillow under her head, seeming perfectly content. One wouldn't have thought she'd been infected with a modified Joker Venom only a few hours before.

Dick had taken to pacing up and down, somewhat frustrated – partially by Batman's secrecy (but on the other hand that was probably just Robin's…pride, in how he'd come to assume he'd always be told _everything_, so that, when it didn't happen it left him annoyed) and partially by how long their guest had been out after she was infected, combined with how long she stayed out after being cured…it didn't bode well. Probably. Hopefully not. But probably.

Dick shook his head, trying not to think about it. Another minute later and he stopped pacing as well, deciding he was doing himself no good getting worked up this way.

He took a seat on a table not far from her, and then…sat there. Staring a little.

Alfred had patched up her cheek where Joker's poisonous blade had cut her rather nicely, and without disturbing her domino mask. It had interesting edges, almost making it look as though her eyes were surrounded by wings.

Robin had never seen this vigilante before, with her lengthy raven hair and pale skin. He was pretty sure her outfit was one of those dresses ice-skaters wore, along with a black jacket and leggings, and pixie boots.

She was pretty and all, but that wasn't why he was sort of staring. He was thinking. Intently. She intrigued him for two reasons: the first, because he didn't know her, or knew _of_ her, and the second because he not only thought he should have – it was partially his town after all, one would think he knew who roamed his streets in a mask besides himself – but also because she had _sounded_ familiar.

Robin had somewhat of a knack for recognizing voices. He and Kid Flash had spent endless hours watching obscure, relatively unpopular animated movies, competing to see who could identify more of the cast first. Whenever KF won it was because he'd cheated and searched the actors online beforehand.

Robin was trying to remember her voice from several hours ago, and had been running what words he didrecall through his head all night since he'd come to again, so he wouldn't forget the sound of it. _"Pretty eyes? Sense of humour? Someone say 'jackpot'?"_

Despite his fervent trying, however, Robin couldn't put his finger on it. It was more than just the sound of her voice, though; it was the _way_ she'd spoken. It was throwing him off – he'd never heard anyone speak like that before. Despite the familiarity in the sound of it, he couldn't put her voice to any face he'd seen before, because none of them fit the personality.

He was frowning after a while of intense thinking. He wished she'd just wake up already, so he could talk to her and figure this out.

And then, abruptly, she gave one violent jerk – making Robin jump off his perch atop the table and run to her side – before snapping erect with a desperate, ragged intake of breath like she'd just broken through the ocean's surface and no air could have been sweeter.

"H-Hey—" Robin didn't know what to say, or do exactly, so whatever was coming out of his mouth was completely unplanned. "You're okay – you're alright—"

She was breathing heavily, each breath producing a soft squeak in the back of her throat. She sat stiffly erect, and though he wanted to put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, Robin wasn't sure it would work, so he didn't. With one shaky hand she reached up to her throat, holding it desperately with her fingers. "_W-water_," she croaked. "Water…!"

"Err, right," Robin's brain caught up to him and he dashed off, returning quickly with a glass of cool liquid. He held it out to her, putting his hand on her shoulder after all, though it happened more reflexively than anything else.

She leaned forward until she'd reached the glass with her lips, instead of taking it with one of her trembling hands, and Robin helped her drink. Slowly, at first, but before long she was gulping it down eagerly, both her hands clutching the glass as well as Robin's hand.

Her hands shook, making her spill some of the water down her chin, but she didn't stop drinking.

"Err…slow down," Robin muttered half-heartedly, but seeing her so desperate for water, he couldn't find it in himself to pull the glass away from her.

"_More_," she gasped, after the last sip, and Robin complied at once, thinking gravely to himself, _Where the _hell_ did Bats go? Or, Alfred even! What am I supposed to do with her?_

Three glasses later her fingers were trembling a whole lot less. She sighed, gratefully, he thought, as she lowered the glass to her lap, seemingly unaware she still had Robin's fingers in her grip too.

"Thanks…" she whispered, and all the stiffness seemed to finally melt out of her shoulders and arms as she sagged, lowering her head for a moment as well.

"Sure…" Robin was saying, watching her closely, carefully. "You're alright now?"

The smallest, softest of chuckles escaped her, and she let go of the glass to run her fingers across her forehead, through her hair, as she looked up at him, "I thought that's what you said a minute ago…"

A smirk tugged at the corner of Robin's mouth. He set the glass aside on the table. "It was more than a minute ago."

"Meh," she looked like she'd rolled her eyes at him. But then she was looking at him again, watching his face, and then taking in the rest of him by the way her head lowered a little. "You're Robin," she said, her voice still soft, like speaking any louder would hurt her throat. It probably would. But now she didn't sound much like her flirtatious, exuberant _"Pretty eyes? Sense of humour? Someone say 'jackpot'?"_ that he'd been trying to put a familiar face to.

"And you're…" Robin stretched the last word, but since he didn't know, he had no choice but to admit it, "Well. I don't know. You want to tell me?"

"Say please," she gave him a cheeky half-smile, and he put on the gentlest – because, she was still recovering from a deadly poison, after all – glare that he could even though he wanted to smile back.

"It wasn't really a question."

Another roll of her eyes, and as she spoke she looked away from him, taking in her surroundings for the first time. "I don't have one." She flinched a little, put a few fingers to the bandage on her cheek, like the effort of talking and smiling was tugging at her cut.

"What?"

"I mean, I haven't thought of one yet. So, you know, I don't _have_ one."

"Vigilante without a name…"

"Superhero," she corrected, raising a finger at him, "Without a name."

"You're not a superhero," he countered, crossing his arms. "You're in over your head, that's what you are."

"I have superpowers," she was saying even as he spoke, and while her voice was mostly still a throaty whisper, it was getting some of its vocals back. She'd pulled up her legs and shifted so she sat on her haunches, and then, before Robin could retort, she'd flashed him another smile and jumped upwards.

Robin took a couple steps back, arms unfolding as he stared up at her – she was floating a couple feet above his head.

She gave a laugh at his surprised expression, and smiled a half-mouthed smile that turned into a frown.

She seemed to sway, and lifted a hand to her head before she dropped.

It wasn't falling, exactly, she just descended rather quick, landing perfectly on her feet. At least, it would have seemed perfect if she hadn't lost her footing upon landing, fainting forward. Robin acted instinctively, catching her around the waist and holding onto her as she hung limp in his arms.

"Um…"

For the briefest second he had no idea what to do.

But then he shifted her in his arms, holding onto her with one, before snatching her up with his other hand under her knees. She was light, and thin, he realized. In the way a person who hadn't eaten much was thin.

That made him frown, and think a little, reminded of something – some_one_, really – as he lay her back down on the table.

Robin watched her, biting his bottom lip, wondering what he'd see if he just happened to snatch off her mask. Then he had to berate himself for the thought – that was hardly a courtesy to a fellow crime-fighter.

He snorted a little at that, though – she was no crime-fighter.

"_In_ over your head," he mumbled.

She stirred, lifting her palm to her forehead, groaning. She turned her head to look at him, "What…?"

"You fell," he offered. "And then fainted."

"Oh…" she mumbled, and then sort of smiled. "Fun."

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**Thanks for reading! Reviews are much loved! I'll actually pick up the next part right here and that will shine some light on our mystery vigilante... XP**


	6. Giggles

**You know what? I don't own Young Justice! XP But I bet you knew that. ;P**

**Thanks RDFitzy and hanayou343 for being the new followers! :) I hope you enjoy the story so far.**

** cocopops1995 - I'm glad you like Raquelle! :) Thanks!**

**So, as promised, this picks up right where the last one left off...**

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The girl came erect, and Robin eyed her askance, ready to react if she fell over again or something.

She put a hand to her head though and stayed upright. "That…was a dizzying experience," she said, with a half-hearted laugh. "Remind me what happened tonight?

"You and Bats were fighting the Joker earlier," Robin said, and then gestured his cheek, "You got cut. Joker's blade was laced with poison – some new kind our usual antidote had no effect against. So Batman and I brought you here, where we could conjure up a cure."

He smirked, just a little pride-filled. They _had_ developed a cure and administered it in time and to seemingly positive results – although the dizziness _could_ end up being alarming… Too early to smirk, then.

She seemed to be staring at him, "You realize you just sort-of-rhymed, right?" her lips curled into a twitchy smile.

"What?" he hadn't noticed.

"Uh, so, where is 'here' now?" she talked right on top of him, apparently having been rhetorical before.

But, she'd gotten to the important question – finally.

"The Batcave," Robin replied with a grin, gesturing with his hands at their surroundings. "Of course."

She nodded, her lips forming a comprehending 'o' as she turned around in her seat, taking it in properly for the first time. "Of…_course_. And yeah, just look…it's big…and dark, and…damp… You must get this a lot, but you have a really _morbid_ decorator," she teased, smiling back at him.

Robin chuckled, "Tell me about it."

"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, and leaned over to grab Robin by the arm with both hands. "The kid!"

"The what?" he leaned back, reflexively wanting to shake her off, but he didn't.

"The kid – the boy! There was a boy with me – shortish, dark-haired, _really_ pretty eyes – he got smoked with Joker Venom and was laughing like crazy, but Batman gave me the antidote and I took him inside and I was looking after him when I started feeling funny – and not 'haha' funny, either. Where is he – is he okay?"

Robin gaped at her, blinking behind his mask. She talked almost as much, as fast, as Wally.

"He's fine," he said at least, but the anxious set to her lips didn't change.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course," Robin said, raising a hand to calm her down. "He made a full recovery. Batman got him home safe and everything," _In the Batmobile. First class ride._ He smiled reassuringly at her and it seemed to have worked.

She visibly relaxed, sighing as she smiled, "Good. If that boy's eyes were lost to the world it would have been the crime _of the century_," she said. "They were _gorgeous_." She'd let him go, and turned away.

Thank the heavens, because she didn't see his face flush at her words. He could _feel_ the heat setting his cheeks on fire.

"I swear…I've never seen anything so blue," she was still mumbling. "…I should've asked him his name."

Robin turned his back on her; trying discreetly to rub at his cheek like that would help.

_Batman – where the hell are you?!_

Robin scowled. This was stupid. Artemis had said something similar about Dick Grayson to Wally just the other day and Robin, not two feet away, hadn't even flinched. He did grin stupid at Wally behind Artemis's back though, just to watch his best friend seethe a little, jealous.

"So, you want to maybe show me the door?"

"No!" Robin snapped around, only to find the table empty, "You can't…leave yet."

"Over here, Masked Wonder."

He turned. She was wandering around aimlessly, looking up and down the cave walls, glancing at the computer, the stairs…

"_Boy_ Wonder," he corrected automatically, and then marched up to her. "And you can't leave yet. For one thing, we should still run some tests, see if the poison hasn't had any side-effects—"

"I feel fine," she cut in, walking ahead of him. She wouldn't stand still, so Robin was just trailing behind her as he'd talked. "Perfectly healthy…" she giggled. Again. Once more, a little longer, a little more insanely this time. And then she wouldn't stop.

Startled, panicked, Robin caught the laughing girl by her shoulders and spun her round to face him, but the moment they were eye to eye – or, mask to mask, really – she'd shut up, giving him a very deadpan look.

"I'm kidding."

He gaped at her.

"That's not funny!" the blush was back, if it hadn't just been subtly lingering.

"I thought it was hilarious," she smirked, winced, and put a hand to her cheek.

"At this rate you're going to pull your stitches," Robin admonished, and let her go.

She ignored him.

"You were saying about that door…?" she started walking again, eyeing him cheekily over her shoulder.

"I wasn't," he said curtly. "Batman will want to talk to you – you're a rogue vigilante in his city, and he doesn't like that kind of thing—"

"'_Rogue_'," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. She turned to him, "Look, I don't have _time_ to talk to your daddy Bats – I have somewhere to be. Do you have a watch?"

"He's not my father," Robin said pointedly, scowling at her. "And no. No watch."

Of course he had a watch. Bruce was paranoid about time. _Knowing_ the time. _Being_ on time.

_Should change his gimmick to Time Man._ Robin rolled his eyes with a shift of his head.

"Well, no need to be so rude about it," the girl said, making the Boy Wonder roll his eyes again – half at himself and half at her for thinking he'd been rolling them at her the first time.

Robin didn't reply, though, and the girl held her peace as well. She started drifting through the cave again and Robin eyed her from where he stood, back straight, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

She was walking on tiptoe every other pace, turning in her step, looking up at the high ceiling of the cave. It was so far up it was hard to even see. There weren't any lights up there. Only darkness. And bats.

Robin watched her walk, contemplating whether he should suggest she rather sit down, wondering if he could wheedle her real name out of her, or get her to explain what she'd been doing around his school in the dead of night – or, better yet, what she was doing being all…'vigilant' in the first place.

This was no job for an amateur, and she was definitely that.

"What if I fight you for it?" she asked abruptly.

"For what?"

"The location of the door."

He snorted, "You couldn't beat me."

"Oh, yeah?" she smirked a little, arms crossed over her chest, her chin lifted defiantly. "Well, let's find out."

"I'm not fighting you," he said. "You were poisoned and wounded. It'd be unfair. Besides," he added, before her parted lips could manage an utterance, "Even if you knew where the door was, you wouldn't get out."

That seemed to shut her up, but only for a moment. Lips pursed tightly, she scowled at him, apparently contemplating something.

Robin watched her carefully – careful not to blink, but of course he had to. And then, in another instant, she'd pushed up off the ground and was sprinting through the air towards him.

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**This turned out a little longer than I had originally wanted it to, so we're just cutting off here for now...the next part will be more enlightening.**

**Feel free to let me know what you think, and thanks a lot for reading! :)**


	7. Embrace

**I hadn't meant to update this story again this week, but this just popped into my head (I feel like I should say 'no pun intended' there, but I don't know if I'd be using it right... XP) and I had to write it down. Thought I'd share it here, too, rather than save it for later. *shrug***

**It doesn't follow up on the last chapter (but the next one will), rather this happens after everything I've written and mentioned so far. Little back story: Raquelle has been part of the team and staying at the cave for a while now. But the cave is under attack, and she and a wounded Robin are hiding out in a vent.**

**I'll probably write some pieces to accompany this at some point - how they got attacked, what happened after, all that...I might also change the location, because I'm not sure how fond I am of the cave being under attack. But there you go anyhow, for now.**

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"Pop it…?"

Robin gave a slight nod, eyebrows raised behind his mask in anticipation.

"Just…pop it right back in there…"

"Yeah, that's what I said," Robin replied, trying not to sound as impatient as he felt – they really didn't have time for such hesitation. "Now, come on—"

But Raquelle was slowly shaking her head. Robin had the impression she was shifting her eyes from his dislocated shoulder, to his face and back like she was trying to discern whether or not he was serious. "I…I don't think I want to," she mumbled finally.

Robin couldn't help the annoyed look that crossed his face, "Come _on_, don't be squicky – you can do this."

"What is 'squicky' supposed to mean?" she frowned at him.

Robin waved a hand – the good one – "It's something Wally says, never mind. Just pop back my shoulder. You want me to explain it again?"

"Your explanation is terrible," she muttered, dropping her face in her hands and taking a breath, "It's not that…" she ran her fingers through her hair and clutched at the dark strands like she just needed _something_ to hold onto. "You're all…this is…_insane_."

Robin cocked an eyebrow, opened his mouth to say something, but then she really looked up at him and her expression drew him up short. It looked…_broken_, was the first word that came to mind; even with the mask covering her eyes.

"Your shoulder's _dislocated_, you're _bleeding_," she released her hair to poke a finger at his upper arm, where Joker's knife had cut through his suit.

"It's hardly a scratch," Robin felt the need to defend, but she was ignoring him.

"We're in a _vent!_" she choked on the word, waving her arm through the narrow space around them. She took a deep breath, no longer meeting his gaze.

Robin thought – feared – for a moment she might start hyperventilating. But then she shook her head. "I'm not cut out for this, Robin," she said in a small, cracked voice.

"Yes, you are," he said at once, gripping her shoulder with his one available hand. "You're a superhero—"

"I'm _not_," she protested at once, looking up at him again, and in the glow of the light from above, Robin could see the sparkle of tears across her cheeks. "I'm in over my head, I've always been…"

Robin swallowed, not certain of what exactly to say. He remembered well enough telling her the very same thing the first time they met. Only, since then, he thought she'd sort of changed his mind. Or, if nothing else, she was well on her way to proving him wrong.

But that wouldn't happen if she quit now.

"Sky," he started, but she shook her head vigorously.

"_No_," she said, her voice uneven. "I can't do this. I've been kidding myself. Just _faking_ it, but I'm not… I'm not making it. I can't do this anymore – I don't _want_ to."

Robin just sort of stared at her. This was no time for a breakdown, neither was it the time to quit – they were in the middle of a raging battle, for heaven's sake!

He set his jaw, screwed up his face into the Batliest Batglare he could manage, and cut into her pathetic whimpering with a rough voice, "You have no choice!" he snapped, and it almost made him flinch the way she recoiled from his tone. But she needed to hear this. Robin had needed to hear it a few times himself before. Every hero did. But taking up the mask and – _or_, if you were Superman – cape wasn't something you did lightly. And once you were in it, there was no "can't do it" anymore. You train and you tried until you could.

And then it was in you. It was always in you. And the only choice was to _finish it_. Take it to the grave, if that's what it took.

"We're in this now and we're not getting out by giving up," Robin said, shaking her roughly by the shoulder. "We're the team's only hope right now. We're being _attacked_, and I need you—"

"_Exactly!_" she hissed. "We're _being attacked_! What kind of teenager spends their Sunday being _attacked_?!"

"Keep your voice down!" he snapped quietly, glaring at her.

She didn't flinch this time, though. Instead, she shoved his hand off her shoulder and ripped off her mask so he could see her glaring back at him.

It wasn't the glare so much as the redness of her eyes, the glittering wetness all across her skin, trailing pathways down her cheeks, that made _him_ recoil in surprise for a change.

How long had she been quietly crying without him noticing?

"I have had _enough_," she said fiercely, but quietly. "Of course I want to save the team; they're my friends, too. But, if we actually _live_ through this," fresh tears brimmed her eyes and she blinked them loose. "I am _done_. I am never coming back, and I _never_ want to—" her voice cracked, and she sobbed, slapping a hand to her mouth to muffle the noise. "To see any—_any_ of you—ever again," she finished through her tears, her eyes no longer on him.

"Raquelle…" he breathed, no other words making it past the lump in his throat. Never see them again? But, she…_he_…

Ugh – this just _sucked_, too much.

Damn the damn Joker, and just—_everyone!_

She was sobbing quietly into the palm of her hand, shoulders shaking, trying desperately to quit her crying before the sound echoed through the vents and betrayed their location.

"I'd…hug you," Robin said feebly, and made a half-hearted gesture toward his arm, "But, my shoulder…"

Something between a sob and a laugh escaped her lips, and she looked up, smiling behind her hand.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and wiped at her tears with the palm of one hand while the other reached for his wrist. "Come here…"

For a second he thought she was going to scoot closer for a one-armed hug, but instead she started pressing buttons on his glove, bringing up the computer.

Robin stared. "What are you doing?" he asked, meaning the actual doing as much as _how_ she knew how to work his glove. It was purposely complicated so not just anyone could use it all willy-nilly.

"I'm _Googling_ how to relocate your shoulder," she said, and sniffed. "Because your explanation _sucks_…and I really need a hug," she added with a mumble.

Robin couldn't help but smile. He made a mental note to ask her later how she knew the way his glove worked, though.

Her eyes flit across the page she'd pulled up, her lips pursed as she read in silence.

She couldn't _really_ mean… The smile slipped from Robin's face. She was stubborn, and she'd been serious…she really _would_.

"Okay," she said at last, and shifted a little closer to him, shutting off the glove. "Move, this way," she snapped him from his reverie, and Robin shifted as instructed, so he sat next to her instead of facing her, his shoulder illuminated in the light overhead.

"So," she said, sounding a little breathless. He watched her from the corner of his eyes as she took hold of his arm, carefully bending his elbow. "You want to…bite down on your cape or something?" she asked, a little laugh in her tone.

Robin smiled, "No, thanks. I can handle it."

"Probably done this a hundred times before, huh?" she asked quietly.

"Not as many as you'd think," he replied. "Is why I can't really do it myself…Bats usually does."

"Does he insist on any cape-biting?" she asked, licking her lips, her eyes on his arm like she was just working up the nerve to finally do something with it.

"No," Robin replied. "He…distracts me…"

"Like how?" she asked curiously, making Robin frown.

"Er…yeah, I'm not telling you," he said dismissively, looking away from her. "It's embarrassing."

She pouted, "But now I really want to know…"

"We don't have time for this," he scowled.

"Just tell me what it is, and we can move on," she smirked at him.

Robin rolled his eyes. It was going to be now or later – he might as well.

So, with a groan, he mumbled his reply.

She blinked at him. "Sorry, I…I didn't hear that…?

"He…makes me sing," Robin growled.

Raquelle blinked again, but her lips curled into an amused smile. "_Really_?"

Robin sighed, defeated. He glared daggers at the walls surrounding them as he explained, "Yeah, really. He waits until I get really into it, too, before he just, _pops_ it right ba—argh! Ah!" belatedly, Robin clasped his hand over his mouth to cut off the sound, as he turned his scowl on Raquelle.

She shrugged, smiled half-heartedly at him. "Sorry? Did I do it right?" she asked, looking a little nervous, as she gently pressed his forearm against his chest and let go.

Robin felt at his shoulder, shifted it a little, and nodded. "Yeah, it's good. Thanks."

She nodded, but her eyes weren't on him anymore. She was looking at her mask, still lying right where she'd discarded it before.

She looked almost…sad.

She must have just been about to reach for it, or say something, when Robin cut her off, wrapping his good arm right around her shoulders and pulling her close against his chest, his other arm gently around her waist.

"What are you doing?" she breathed, startled, her limbs stiff in his grasp.

"You said you needed a hug…"

She relaxed at once, burying her head into his shoulder, "Oh, Robin…" she whispered, slipping her hands up his chest, settling one around his neck, "I don't think _I_ need a hug," she wrapped her other arm around him, clutching at his cape, "_Half_ as much as you do."

She squeezed him tight.

* * *

**In my mind, this is a lot more about Robin, and maybe how she sees him, amongst other things, than it is about Raquelle having a nervous breakdown, just FYI. XP **

**Thanks a lot for reading! Please let me know what you think! :)**

**Also, Robin calls her Sky at one point, that's because *spoiler alert? O.o* ****her superhero name is Skylark.**


	8. Identity

**Happy holidays!**

**Thanks so much for following, ****_Liveyourlifedancing, LunarBlade Valentine _****and****_ Wild Imagination 7_****! Welcome, and thanks, I hope you enjoy this!**

**As promised, this follows just after chapter 6.**

* * *

When Bruce gets off the phone with Clark he doesn't go back down to the cave right away. Instead, he uses the computer in his office to do some research on their…guest.

Alfred, always the better medic – Bruce has a guilty twinge in his gut over the fact, but he has given the butler experience enough – cleaned the girl's wound and stitched up her cheek well enough. Initial tests had shown that their rushed antidote had done its job in counter-acting the Joker Venom in her system, despite having been administered so late.

Any more information will have to wait until she wakes up.

But, not the case of her identity, though.

Bruce connects to the Batcave's computer system to check the fingerprint results, but it's still loading. So he leans back in his seat, props his elbows onto the desk and laces his fingers in front of his face, which had taken on a pondersome expression.

As if one rogue vigilante in his city hadn't been enough, he now had another – much _more_ inexperienced – kid to deal with.

He'd left Robin to look after the girl while he spoke to Clark – League business he'd have to get back to _later_, since the girl had to take precedence for now. A somewhat tedious decision, but there it was. The League could handle things without him for a little while longer.

He'd started the scan on her identity as soon she'd been patched up and injected with the cure, and had decided not to head back to the cave and look up the results there sometime during his conversation with Clark. Surely the girl must have woken up by now, and he wanted to be prepared with as much knowledge about her as he could find before confronting her.

His program was admittedly running a little slow, though. Perhaps Robin could fix that later. If it wasn't just that the girl was a hard person to find.

Of course, her superhero identity wouldn't be written in any record, but Bruce had to tentatively admit that his ward had some charm – not a thing he'd been wanting to think about for some time yet, but there you go – and he'd probably be able to get one name from the girl when she woke up.

The question of her identity, though, Bruce reflected, as he sat up straight to check the finally appearing results on his search, was not the bigger issue here.

The bigger issue was what he was going to do with said identity.

One of the reasons they'd recruited Artemis two years ago, Batman never actually voiced, was to keep her off his streets.

Bruce was just wondering whether they'd need to do the same with this new 'hero' as he wandered down the steps of the Batcave, when Robin's still signature cackle echoed through the cave and made the Batman pause.

Silent in his step, even his ward hadn't heard him, leaving Batman free to observe the scene below unnoticed. In Robin's defence, the boy was somewhat otherwise occupied, so no wonder he hadn't taken care to listen for his mentor's approach.

From his higher perch on the stairs, Batman watched his partner spar against their unidentified vigilante – not exactly the kind of scene the Bat had expected to walk in on, but instead of breaking them up just yet, he decided to study the girl's movements instead.

No doubt Robin was doing much the same. He'd have to explain how they ended up in a little fight later on, though. Just as soon as Batman and the girl had a talk.

"That's better," Batman heard the girl say, as she skipped back out of Robin's reach. Robin wasn't fighting her as much as either dodging her half-hearted hits, or trying to grab a hold of her. "Joker had one thing right, at least," she said, and Batman raised an unseen eyebrow behind his cowl. "Laughing _is_ good for the soul."

_But too much can kill you._

She was grinning at Robin, who'd sprinted forward with another attempted grab at her, but the Boy Wonder stopped short at her words. Batman wasn't certain what about them exactly had made Robin pause, but it was enough of an opening for the girl to counter attack.

She moved swiftly, gliding towards him in a second, dropping to the ground and sweeping a steady leg across the floor, aiming to trip him.

But Batman had taught Robin better than that, and he hopped off the floor to miss the offending limb. The girl, however, must have seen it coming, because she barely finished the move before jumping into the air and diving Robin to the ground.

A triumphant "Ha!" echoed through the cave as she sat on top of his stomach and pinned down his wrists with her hands. "Gotcha."

Robin might have done something to help himself out of his position – there were several ways of getting out of it, and it wouldn't have been the first time he'd needed to either – but Batman had seen enough and chose that instance to intervene.

"Robin."

The single word was enough to catch his protégé's – and the girl's – attention.

She had more of a reaction, practically jumping off Robin almost at once, floating back a ways from Robin before touching down to the floor, her hands behind her back, and her eyes on Batman as he descended the stairs.

"Bats—" Robin had said, when he'd looked round at the sound of his mentor's voice, and then, with the weight of the girl lifted, he'd gotten languidly to his feet, even taking the time to dust off his suit. "What took you so long?"

"I was looking into something," Batman replied, and came to stand next to Robin, who followed his mentor's lead in facing the girl. She crossed her arms when his gaze settled on her, and frowned slightly at him.

"Batman… you…look taller, when you're standing straight," she said, one hand emerging to gesture up and down at him for a moment. "And, you know…not saving my bacon," she shrugged one shoulder, glanced away.

But Batman's attention was drawn to his partner, not missing the tight-lipped frown crossing Robin's face at the girl's words. He was…contemplating something, clearly. But what, and what conclusion he was trying to come to, Batman couldn't quite fathom. This was potentially alarming, since he generally knew most everything his ward was thinking.

"Thanks for that, by the way…" she mumbled, touching a hand to her cheek.

Batman gave a stiff nod in acknowledgement and changed the subject, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," she answered at once, and gave him an unconvincing grin, "So, you could just point me in the direction of the door and I'll get out of your hair! You know, if you have any, under that," she pointed a finger at him, twirled it around, and then blushed. "Not that, it looks like you don't – have hair, I mean – because you don't look that old. I mean, not that I can tell, or anything, since, with the mask – cowl – what do you call that?"

Batman was raising a discreet eyebrow as the girl rambled on, even more inconspicuously directing it at Robin, who shot back an amused grin and a shrug.

"But, the point is, I'm totally grateful, and in your debt you big, black, scary bat, but _fine_, so you can just show me out and I'll be on my way…Okay?"

"Apparently," Robin said. "She has somewhere to be."

"Oh?" said Batman, and the girl shot a very deliberate scowl Robin's way.

The Boy Wonder shrugged without care.

"It's…well, it's fine. I can be a _little_ late for that," she said, pinching the air between her forefinger and thumb.

"Good. Because I'd like to know to whom I should address that debt."

"Er…well, see…"

"She doesn't have a name."

"Your real name, then," Batman said.

"That kind of defeats the point of a secret identity, don't you think?" she replied dryly.

"I was being polite," Batman said, walking over to the cave's computer, its large screen illuminating a moderate part of the cave.

He heard Robin follow, and the girl trudged after them slowly a moment later.

"Batman," he heard Robin mutter, "You didn't…" but he ignored the boy, fingers gliding across the keyboard to bring up the results of his find.

When he turned back to his companions, Robin was gaping at the screen, and the girl rubbing nervously at one arm.

"I _knew_ it…" Robin breathed, taking Batman aback. Obviously, he didn't show his surprised.

Illuminated before them on the screen was a juvenile record for one R.C. Hart, and a shot of the, then, 14 year old girl, her light blonde hair hanging in waves to her shoulders and a scowl on her delicate features. Her skin was sunburnt and her face covered in freckles, painting so deep a contrast against the pale, raven-haired, older girl in the cave, that Batman might have second-guessed the results if she hadn't looked so guilty.

Not to mention Robin's reaction.

"_Raquelle?_" he said, turning to face her. "I _knew_ it was you! You _talk_ like her, you _sound_ just like her. But, the hair, and…and I thought you're _afraid_ of heights! But you _fly_?"

She'd had her eyes on the ground as he'd spoken, but spared him a glance at last, spots of colour touching her cheeks. "I…maybe exaggerated, that last bit?" she shrugged one shoulder, biting her bottom lip. "As for the hair…" she rolled her eyes. "I suppose I might as well," and then, pushing off her mask to pull it back over her head, she ran her fingers through her hair as she did so.

Black roots turned light blonde, and the colour seeped down through her strands, dyeing her hair instantly.

When she looked up, her deep brown eyes fell on Robin, and her lips twitched into a half-smile for only a second, an apprehensive expression on her face.

"Raquelle…" Robin repeated. "It really _is_ you."

* * *

**I'm taking a little break from writing, and I'll see you all next year! X**

**But, please feel free to still let me know what you think of this so far! I'd appreciate it. :) **


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